This interesting surname, with variant spellings Alpin, Applin, Aplin, and Appling derives from the diminutive form of the personal name Appol(l)ina. Appol(l)ina was a martyr at Alexandria, who among other tortures, had her teeth beaten out, consquently she is evoked against toothache, and her emblem is a forceps gripping a tooth. This popular girls' name continued to be recorded into the late 16th and early 17th Centuries - Apeline, daughter of John Morris, was christened in St. Peter's Church, Corhill, London in 1593. The surname had been adopted prior to the above recording, however, (see below). On July 26th 1610 Mary Applyn and Lewes Evans were married in St. Dunstan's, Stepney, London and on January 19th 1650 Philip Applin, an infant was christened in St. Ann's Blackfriars, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Applyn, which was dated 1547, in the "Register of the Freeman of the City of York", during the reign of King Henry Vlll, known as "Bluff King Hal", 1509 - 1547. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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